Saint Paul’s Teaching on the Reason and Purpose of our Salvation

For the Second Reading at Mass on the 24th Sunday in Ordinary (C Cycle), we enjoy the opportunity to hear a personal testimony from Saint Paul concerning Christ Jesus’ saving work from 1 Timothy 1:12-17. As Paul is accustomed to doing, he will make it personal before he broadens it out to the whole community.

For the Second Reading at Mass on the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C Cycle), we enjoy the opportunity to hear a personal testimony from Saint Paul concerning Christ Jesus’ saving work from 1 Timothy 1:12-17. As Paul is accustomed to doing, he will make it personal before he broadens it out to the whole community.

The uniqueness of this passage is found in the fact that it is the first time that Paul confesses the deeply personal nature of his conversion. While, in Acts 9:1-19 we read about the history of his conversion, written by St. Luke, and in Galatians 1:11-16 we read about what he did immediately following his conversion, and in Philippians 3:4-8 we read about what he was doing immediately prior to his conversion, this passage today goes far beyond just the technical facts of his conversion. Here, Paul confesses, “I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

In the context of his letter to Timothy, what Paul is conveying here is that he was just like the false teachers who he had warned Timothy about in vv. 3-10 (“once a blasphemer”), but he is also unlike them because he has an excuse – he was a blasphemer out of ignorance, rather than out of the rejection of the full knowledge of the truth (Cf. Acts 3:17; 17:30). That is a very important distinction for us to consider in regards non-believers, and it is also a warning to evangelists to guard against assuming the motive of those who reject Christ.

“This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all His patience as an example for those who would come to believe in Him for everlasting life.”

I find that the glaring point to take from this passage rest not the fact that God does not show partiality, but, rather, in His reasons for not showing it. He saves us because we are sinners in need of being saved. “Jesus heard this and said to them (that), “Those who are well do not need a physician, 11 but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Yet, the beauty of the whole process deepens even further. For, it is not enough for God to become man so that He could save those who need saving. If that was all that needed to be done then Christ Jesus would not have had to suffer and die on the Cross. On the contrary, the message of the crucifixion is that for us to be truly born again; to be resurrected into our new life In Christ we have to suffer the exposure of who we are in the presence of all those who love us and hate us. The message of the Christ on the Cross is that the transformation from sinner to saint comes by the way becoming transparent people.

Indeed, there is nothing hidden in the truth, and for this reason, Christ was stripped down, clothes ripped off, flesh torn away from His body, bones exposed, blood dripping from skull to toe, and body pierced with a lance. Therefore, when God deigns to show His mercy to sinners He does it by calling them into repentance, and the way He moves us to repentance is by exposing our filth for what it is in relation to His Holiness. In even more sensual language, it is to say that He makes us smell and taste who and what we are, and when we respond to that grace by discerning how wretched we are in contrast to how Holy He is and expose our heart to Him by confessing our ugliness, is when God snatches us into Himself and starts to clean us up by sending out on mission.

“. . . so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all His patience as an example for those who would come to believe in Him for everlasting life.” Notice first how St. Paul spoke about why Jesus saves sinners, which is because sinners need saving, then he spoke about the purpose for which sinners are saved. That is, sinners are saved because they need saving ‘for mission’ – for God’s purpose.

In other words, God never heals us solely for our benefit. He does not heal the wounded soldier so that the soldier can go off and eat ice cream in solitary. On the contrary, God picks up the wounded soldier and heals Him so that He can send the soldier on a holy mission. Neither does God save us so that we can sit on our butts all day and read about Him. Never! The method through which God desires that we learn about His love is the same way in which every person that we read about in the Bible learned about it. That is, by going out there on missions, carrying our cross, trying our best to love on other, suffering for it, and in the midst of it all, growing closer and closer to God.

The call of today’s Mass is for two people. First, for those who have not been saved; that you pray to God for the grace to see yourself in the light of Him who is all good and worthy of our love. Second, for penitent Christians; that they keep praying to God for the grace to know your mission and for the strength to see it through to the end.

As you reflect upon the readings at Mass today, here are some questions for you to consider:

Paul was very audacious in his confession. What is your confession? Who were and are you outside of Christ Jesus?

Sin is always an improper audacious offense against the nature of God. Why does God respond to the radical departure of our creature nature and audacious offenses against Him with such a radical and audacious plan for our salvation?

Take a moment now to pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen fight and press through all temptations to be someone other than who you were created to be.

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